Colonial First State

Senior Creative Lead

Colonial First State  •  Sydney, AU (Onsite)  •  4 days ago
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Job Description

Are you ready to be part of an organisation that values expertise, passion and diversity? At CFS we know that the foundation of our success lies in our exceptional people. We believe in celebrating individuality, have a passion for high performance and creating an environment where you can unleash your full potential. Our people enable us to make a difference and deliver exceptional experiences to help our customers achieve financial freedom.

Your Team

The Senior Creative Lead reports to the Director, Brand and leads the in-house Creative Studio: the function responsible for turning business, brand and campaign priorities into high-quality, on-brand creative across channels and formats. The studio plays a critical role in translating strategy into expression: developing campaign creative, social assets, digital and email design, presentations, motion/video, sales enablement materials, templates and scalable asset systems that can be used consistently across internal and external environments.

This role sits within the Customer Office at CFS, working closely with colleagues across marketing and the business to deliver on-brand creative that supports our company priorities.

Your Responsibilities

  • Lead creative direction and studio standards Set the creative bar for the studio across conceptual thinking, art direction, design craft, motion and execution quality. Ensure CFS’s creative output is not only on-brand and consistent, but also clear, compelling and distinctive in market.
  • Lead and develop the Creative Studio team: Lead a small in-house studio team with a clear standard for quality, pace, collaboration and constructive challenge. Coach designers and producers, provide clear creative direction and feedback, and build a culture where people are respected for their expertise and supported to do their best work.
  • Shape how the brand comes to life: Elevate the day-to-day creative expression of the CFS brand across campaign, content and core customer communications. Translate brand strategy into strong visual systems, creative approaches and execution principles that can flex across audiences, formats and channel needs while maintaining coherence and quality.
  • Translate briefs into strong creative responses Turn business and brand needs into clear creative concepts, asset families and scalable execution systems. Help teams move beyond one-off outputs by developing work that is idea-led, fit for channel and designed to scale.
  • Own the studio prioritisation filter Help ensure work is prioritised by business priority, customer value, strategic importance, channel need, effort and capacity. Protect studio focus by helping the business make better trade-offs and by keeping attention on the work that creates the most value.
  • Run clear creative governance and quality assurance Implement review practices that maintain brand quality, improve feedback quality and reduce unnecessary iteration. Help stakeholders understand how to review creative constructively and at the right moments, so outputs stay strategically aligned and consistently on brand.
  • Ensure outputs are channel-ready and adaptable: Guide how creative is adapted efficiently for different audiences, formats and placements without losing quality or strategic intent.
  • Help CFS stakeholders contribute more effectively to creative outcomes: Improve the quality of briefs, strengthen brief readiness, support better upstream challenge, enable clearer reviews and reduce late-stage changes. Build stronger shared understanding across the business of what good creative outputs look like and what the studio needs in order to produce better work.
  • Strengthen workflow and delivery discipline: Work closely with the Traffic Manager to manage priorities, resourcing, deadlines, handoffs and capacity trade-offs across campaigns and BAU. The Senior Creative Lead should shape what matters and what good looks like; the workflow discipline should help the team deliver that well and consistently.
  • Drive continuous improvement and modern ways of working Introduce smarter production approaches, lightweight process improvements and practical tool usage that improve speed, consistency and quality. Look for ways to modernise how the studio operates without adding unnecessary complexity.
  • Adopt AI-enabled ways of working: Actively explore and use AI tools to improve ideation, versioning, adaptation and production efficiency, and share learnings across the team as capability grows.

Your Capability and Experience

  • Strong experience leading creative direction for multi-channel brand and campaign work across social, digital, CRM, web, presentations and sales enablement.
  • Proven leadership experience in a studio, agency or in-house creative team, with a track record of lifting creative standards, team capability and delivery discipline.
  • Strong stakeholder management skills, including the confidence to challenge briefs, clarify expectations and manage trade-offs under pressure.
  • Strong understanding of production realities and workflow, with the ability to balance quality, speed, volume, capacity and operational constraints.
  • Experience improving intake, prioritisation or workflow practices in a creative or marketing environment.
  • Comfort using workflow, capacity or project data to identify bottlenecks, reduce rework and improve planning conversations.

What to Expect

At CFS, you'll be working among the very best in the wealth management industry. It's an inspiring environment that encourages development and celebrates success. Other things to look forward to:

  • Access to CFS Employer Super, which offers an expansive investment menu and flexible insurance solutions
  • Support with financial services, including discounts on home loans and daily bank accounts through our partnership with a leading financial institution
  • Access to 24/7 confidential support covering safety, medical and mental health services
  • Additional leave day to celebrate your birthday
  • Life Leave - 3 days per annum to focus on your wellbeing or celebrate a special event
  • Exclusive discounts on retail, travel and entertainment

CFS Culture

At CFS we are committed to creating a thriving environment where individuals can flourish. We believe that success is built upon strong teams, and we are dedicated to celebrating uniqueness, championing individuality and supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce. We believe that when you can truly be yourself, you can unlock your full potential.

Apply today and join us in helping Australians to achieve their financial freedom.

Please note, CFS requires all candidates to have full work rights in Australia.

Where we have preferred candidates, background checks (including Police, Employment, Bankruptcy checks, ASIC banned and disqualified persons) will be completed prior to the final preferred candidate’s employment being confirmed. The outcomes of the background checks do not preclude the preferred candidate, however, they will be assessed against the inherent requirements of the role.

This role is based on Gadigal Land (Sydney).

Colonial First State

About Colonial First State

We’ve helped over 3 million Australians and counting.

We provide superannuation, investment and retirement products to members as well as to corporate and superannuation fund investors. Our wide range and investment management expertise spans Australian and global shares, property, fixed interest, credit, hedge funds, infrastructure and private equity.

The privacy of your personal information is important to us. We will handle all personal information collected in accordance with applicable privacy laws and our privacy policy and collection statement which can be accessed here www.cfs.com.au/privacy. If you have any questions in relation to our privacy practices or would like to request a copy of our privacy policy please contact us on 13 13 36.

Avanteos Investments Limited ABN 20 096 259 979, AFSL 245531 (AIL) is the trustee and issuer of super and pension products. Colonial First State Investments Limited ABN 98 002 348 352, AFSL 232468 (CFSIL) is the issuer and Investor Directed Portfolio Services (IDPS) operator and administrator of investment products. Information on this social media may include general advice but does not consider your individual objectives, financial situation, needs or tax circumstances. You can find the target market determinations (TMD) for our financial products at www.cfs.com.au/tmd, which include a description of who a financial product might suit. You should read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS), Investor Directed Portfolio Service Guide (IDPS Guide) and Financial Services Guide (FSG) carefully, assess whether the information is appropriate for you, and consider talking to a financial adviser before making an investment decision. You can get the FirstChoice PDSs and the FSG from www.cfs.com.au or by calling 13 13 36 and FirstWrap PDSs, FSGs and IDPS Guides from www.firstwrap.com.au or your adviser.

Industry
Finance & Insurance
Company Size
1,001-5,000 employees
Headquarters
Sydney, AU
Year Founded
Unknown
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